Gun securement assembly and method to use the same

ABSTRACT

A gun securement assembly (10) for holster (12) in which holster (12) has sidewall member (14) in form of a receptacle to hold gun (16) and defines opening (18) at which butt and hammer portion (20) of gun (16) is positioned for access having strap member (24) and another strap member (26) for disposing over said opening (18) of holster (12) for positioning hammer portion (20) between at least a portion of strap member (24) and at least a portion of another strap member (26) and securing the strap member (24) and another strap member (26) to sidewall (14) of holster (12). Gun securement assembly (10) also includes having tab member (42) for positioning over opening and releasably securing and variably positioning (52) tab member (42) to sidewall (14) at various positions along and adjacent to periphery of opening (18). A method for securing gun (16) within holster (12) which includes disposing strap member (24) and another strap member (26) over opening (18) for positioning hammer portion (20) between at least a portion of strap member (24) and at least a portion of another strap member (26) and securing strap member (24) and another strap member (26) to sidewall (14) . Another method for securing gun (16) within holster (12) is provided having the steps of releasably securing and variably positioning (52) tab member (42) to sidewall (14) along the periphery of opening (18), and positioning tab member (42) over opening (18) of holster (12).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a gun securement assembly for a holsterand method to use the same, and more particularly, a strap assembly fordisposing over an opening to the holster where the butt and hammerportion of a gun held in the holster are positioned for access and amethod to use the same.

2. Description of the related art including information disclosed under37 CFR 1.97-1.99

Various holster assemblies for securing guns within a holster are known.These assemblies have straps that are secured to the holster andposition themselves over the opening in the holster thereby restrainingthe gun held within the holster as seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,815,641issued on Mar. 28, 1989, to Bianchi et al.; 5,094,376 issued on Mar. 10,1992, to Baruch; 4,886,197 issued on Dec. 12, 1989, to Bowles et al.;4,750,655 issued Jun. 14, 1988, to Barry; 4,312,466 issued on Jan. 26,1982; and 4,270,680 issued Jun. 2, 1981, to Bianchi. However, none ofthese assemblies have strap members that will position a hammer portionof a gun between themselves and thereby provide such engagingsecurement.

Further, none of the straps of these assemblies can releasably secureand variably position a strap to a sidewall of the holster at variouspositions along and adjacent to the periphery of the opening of theholster where the butt and hammer portion of a gun held in the holsterare positioned for access. Thus, the straps are not mounted withversatility to accommodate a choice of various desired positions of astrap along the opening of the holster by the wearer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore the principal object of the present invention to providea gun securement assembly for a holster in which the holster has asidewall member in a configuration to define a receptacle to hold a gunand defines an opening at which a butt and hammer portion of the gun isaccessible having a strap member and another strap member for disposingover said opening of said holster for positioning said hammer portionbetween at least a portion of said strap member and at least a portionof said another strap member and securing the strap member and anotherstrap member to the sidewall of the holster.

Another object of the invention is to provide a gun securement assemblyfor a holster in which the holster has a sidewall member in aconfiguration to define a receptacle to hold a gun and defines anopening at which a butt and hammer portion of the gun is accessible,having a tab member for positioning over said opening of said holsterand releasably securing and variably positioning said tab member to thesidewall of said holster at various positions along and adjacent to theperiphery of said opening of said holster.

A further object of this invention is to provide a method for securing agun within a holster in which the holster has a sidewall member in aconfiguration to define a receptacle to hold a gun and defines anopening in which a butt and hammer portion of the gun is accessible atsaid opening having the steps of disposing a strap member and anotherstrap member over said opening of said holster for positioning saidhammer portion between at least a portion of said strap member and atleast a portion of said another strap member and securing the strap andanother strap member to the sidewall of the holster.

Another object of this invention is to provide a method for securing agun within a holster in which the holster has a sidewall member in aconfiguration to define a receptacle to hold a gun and defines anopening at which a butt and hammer portion of the gun is accessiblehaving the steps of releasably securing and variably positioning a tabmember to said sidewall along the periphery of said opening of saidholster, and positioning said tab member over said opening of saidholster.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing objects and advantageous features of the invention will beexplained in greater detail and others will be made apparent from thedetailed description of the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention which is given with reference to the several figures of thedrawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the gun securement assembly;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the gun securement assembly;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the gun securement assembly partiallyunsecured and without a gun;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the securement shown within the dottedarea of FIG. 2 partially disassembled without the presence of a gun andin which the entire strap member is shown;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the securement shown within the dottedarea of FIG. 2 fully assembled without the presence of a gun and inwhich the entire strap member is shown; and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of the securement shown within the dottedarea of FIG. 2 without the presence of a gun and in which the entirestrap member is shown.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawings, gun securement assembly 10 for holster 12seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, in which holster 12 has sidewall member 14 in aconfiguration to define a receptacle to hold gun 16 and defines opening18 at which butt and hammer portion 19, 20 of gun 16 is positioned foraccess. Holster 12 is flexible and is composed of ballistic resistantmaterial such as a multilayer ballistic nylon such as Kevlar®, so thatit is lightweight, formfitting, and weather resistant, as well asballistic resistant. Because safety of the wearer is important,particularly in police environments, holster 12 is designed to reduce orprevent gun 16 from being removed from holster 12 by a second person oraccidentally during strenuous activity.

Although gun 16 will rest in holster 12 and be supported reasonablywell, the preference has been and is to restrain gun 16 from beinglifted out of holster 12, or dropping out of holster 12. Such restraintis therefore, as illustrated in FIGS. 1-3, provided by a selectable gunsecurement assembly 10.

Referring to FIG. 1, this gun securement assembly 10 includes strapassembly 22 and thumb release 42. Thumb release member 42 retrains gun16 from being lifted out of holster 12 accidentally or without thewearer's authorization. Strap assembly 22 when secure, is an addedmeasure of securement to help alleviate gun 16 from being lifted out ofholster 12 when secured in unison with thumb release member 42. Strapassembly 22 and thumb release member 42 are discussed in more detailbelow.

Referring to FIGS. 1-3, strap assembly 22 includes strap member 24 andanother strap member 26 disposed over opening 18 of holster 12 toposition hammer portion 20 between at least a portion of strap member 24and at least a portion of another strap member 26. Strap member 24 andanother strap member 26 are flexible so that hammer portion 20 ispositioned between a portion of strap member 24 and at least a portionof another strap member 26 so that hammer portion 20 of gun 16 is moresecure from unwanted removal from holster 12. Hammer portion 20 beingpositioned between strap member 24 and another strap member 26 helpalleviate gun 16 from sliding under strap member 24 or another strapmember 26 so that gun 16 cannot be removed from holster 12 withoutauthorization from wearer.

Still referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, strap member 24 and another strapmember 26 are secured to sidewall 14 and to single strap element 28.Single strap element 28 has an end 30 releasably secured to sidewall 14.End 30 of single strap element 28 is releasably secured to sidewall 14by a pair of clusters of mating hook and loop fasteners, such asVelcro®, in which one of the pair of clusters 32 is attached to end 30of single strap element 28 and the other of the pair of clusters 34 isattached to an outer portion of sidewall 14. One pair of clusters 34attached to outer portion of sidewall 14 extends away from opening 18 ofholster 12. This is done in order that end 30 can be releasably securedto sidewall 14 at desired locations higher or lower on holster 12thereby, providing a tighter or looser securement of gun 16, asdiscussed in more detail below.

It is desirable to have sidewall 14 covered with clusters 34 in anexpanded area in order to facilitate ease and quickness in securing end30 from sidewall 14 as well as providing ease and quickness, based onthe location of end 30, to gain access to gun 16o Various positions onsidewall 14 may preferably accommodate the wearer depending on whetherthe wearer is left or right handed.

clusters 34 are attached to expanded areas on sidewall 14 to facilitate,as mentioned above, adjusting how tight or lose strap assembly 22 issecured over gun 16. The adjustability is further enhanced by singlestrap element 28 having at least a portion constructed of a resilientmaterial which therefore enables strap assembly 22 to be extended tohave end 30 reach cluster 34 further from opening 18 thereby providing atighter securement. This adjustment is also needed to accommodatevarying sized guns. Therefore, the combination of the resiliency ofsingle strap element 28 and pair of clusters 34 extending over outerportion of sidewall 14 away from opening 18 enables both a large gun anda small gun to be releasably secured within opening 18 of holster 12 aswell as providing the desired restraining force of securement over gun16.

An advantage of using hook and loop fasteners 32, 34 such as Velcro®forclusters 32 and 34 in releasably securing end 30 to an outer portion ofsidewall 14 is that these clusters of hook and loop fasteners 32, 34make substantial noise when they are being released. This noisy releasenotifies the wearer when someone is releasing the wearer's weapon,whether intentionally or unintentionally, without his authorization,such as in crowds or when he or she is being bumped. Thus, the noiseemitted by this securement when it is being unsecured alerts the wearerof the conditions in order for the wearer to take precautionarymeasures. Further, this securement provides much resistance if a pullingforce is exerted on strap assembly 22 away from opening 18. Thus, thisinvention provides a releasable flexible securing means 32 that providesa tight securement with holster 12 and, when released, provides enoughnoise to notify the wearer that securing means 32 is being released.Therefore, the wearer is less likely to have someone withdraw his or hergun 16 without the wearer's knowledge that gun 16 is in the process ofbeing released from holster 12.

Referring to FIGS. 4-6, strap member 24 and another strap member 26 aresecured to one another, which can include them being integrally formed,to form loop portion 36.

Still referring to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, strap member 24 and strap member 26are releasably secured to sidewall 14 of holster 12. One common way ofreleasably securing is to extend loop portion 36 through another loopportion 38 which is secured to sidewall 14, as seen in FIG. 4. In turn,as seen in FIG. 5, strap element 28 is extended through loop portion 36to secure strap assembly 22 to another loop portion 38. Since strapassembly 22 is releasably secured, strap assembly 22 can easily beremoved when the person wearing holster 12 decides he or she does notneed the added protection of this additional security strap. Further,this type of securement will cause loop 36 to tighten to itself to loop38 should an unwanted pulling force be exerted on strap assembly 22.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, gun securement assembly 10 of a holster 12includes thumb release member 42 secured to sidewall 14 and disposedover opening 18 of holster 12. Thumb release member 42 includes two tabmembers 44, 46 in which each tab member 44, 46 is secured to sidewall 14of holster 12 to position each tab member 44, 46 at opposing sides ofopening 18 of holster 12.

Gun securement assembly 10 includes means for releasably securing 52 atleast one tab member 44 to sidewall 14 of holster 12 in which one tabmember 44 is secured to sidewall 14 by a first loop member 53 secured tosidewall 14 adjacent opening 18 of holster 12, in which a portion of atleast one tab member 44 extends through first loop member 53 andreleasably secures itself to first loop member 53 with a pair ofclusters of mating hook and loop fasteners 54, 56 in which one of saidpair 54 is attached to said another portion 58 of at least one tabmember 44 and the other of said pair 56 is attached to portion 60 of atleast one tab member 44 to releasably engage to one another to secureabout first loop member 53.

Still referring to FIG. 3, one of said pair of clusters of mating hookand loop fasteners 56 extends along another portion 58 away from saidportion 60. Thus, at least one tab member 44 can be adjusted in lengthin order to accommodate a larger or a smaller gun within opening 18 ofholster 12 by how far portion 60 is projected through loop 53 and foldedover to secure to another portion 58.

Still referring to FIG. 3, gun securement assembly 10 includes means forreleasably securing 48 tab members 44, 46 to each other 44, 46 at aposition over opening 18 of holster 12. Such means 48 includes at leastone pair of mating snap members 49, 50, at least one each secured toeach of the two tab members 44, 46, respectively. However other commonreleasably securing means such as hook and loop fasteners such asVelcro®, or other similar means known in the art, could be used.

Referring to FIG. 3, gun securement assembly 10 of holster 12 includestab member 42 positioned over opening 18 of holster 12 and means forreleasably securing and variably positioning 52 tab member 42 tosidewall 14 of holster 12 at various positions along and adjacent to theperiphery of opening 18 of holster 12. Tab member 42 includes at leasttwo tab members 44, 46 positioned at opposing sides of opening 18 ofholster 12 to each other. Gun securement assembly 10 of holster 12includes means for releasably securing 48 at least two tab members 44,46 to each other which includes a pair of mating snap members 49, 50 inwhich one of said pair 49, 50 is secured to each of said tab members 44,46, respectively as earlier described.

Gun securement assembly 10 includes releasable securing and variablepositioning means 52 having loops 53 secured to sidewall 14. Loops 53are each secured in different positions on sidewall 14 along theperiphery of opening 18 of holster 12. As is shown, it is preferable tohave at least two loops 53 located on each of the opposing sides ofopening 18. Means 52 further includes having a portion of tab member 42extend through loops 53 and releasably secure itself to the describedloop 53 with a pair of clusters of mating hook and loop fasteners 54, 56in which one of said pair 54 is attaching to another portion 58 of tabmember 42 and the other pair 56 is attached to portion 60 of tab member42 to releasably engage to one another to secure about the desired firstloop member 53. Thus, tab members 44, 46 can easily be secured to anydesired loop 53 and releasably engaged to such loop 53 thereby givingthe wearer versatility in positioning tab members 44, 46 about opening18.

Further, as discussed previously, one of a pair of clusters of matinghook and loop fasteners 54 extend along another portion 58 away fromportion 60, thereby providing the wearer variable positions to securetab members 44, 46 to themselves and thereby adjust the length of tabmembers 44, 36 in order to accommodate a larger or a smaller gun withinopening 18 of holster 12.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, a new method for securing gun 16 withinholster 12 in which holster 12 has sidewall member 14 in a configurationto define a receptacle to hold gun 16 and defines opening 18 in whichbutt and hammer portion 20 of gun 16 is positioned at said opening 18includes the steps of disposing strap member 24 and another strap member26 over opening 18 of holster 12 to position said hammer portion 20between at least a portion of strap member 24 and at least a portion ofanother strap member 26 and securing strap member 24 and another strapmember 26 to sidewall 14 of holster 12.

Referring to FIG. 3, a new method for securing gun 16 within holster 12is provided in which holster 12 has sidewall member 14 in aconfiguration to define a receptacle to hold gun 16 and defines opening18 in which butt and hammer portion 20 of gun 16 is positioned atopening 18 includes the steps of releasably securing and variablypositioning 52 tab member 42 to sidewall 14 by releasably securing tabmember 42 to a desired loop 53 along the periphery of opening 18 ofholster 12 and positioning tab member 42 over opening 18 of holster 12.

While a detailed description of the preferred embodiment of theinvention has been given, it should be appreciated that many variationscan be made thereto without departing from the scope of the inventionset forth in the appended claims.

I claim:
 1. A gun securement assembly for a holster in which the holsterhas a sidewall member in a configuration to define a receptacle to holda gun and defines an opening at which a butt and hammer portion of thegun is accessible, comprising:a strap member and another strap member,each having one end and another end, in which the strap member andanother strap member are disposed over said opening of said holster forpositioning said hammer portion between at least a portion of said strapmember and at least a portion of said another strap member; and meansfor securing the strap member and another strap member to the sidewallof the holster which includes a single strap member having a first endsecured to the one end of each the strap member and another strap memberand in which a second end of the single strap member is releasablysecured to the sidewall member, and in which the another ends of thestrap member and another strap member are secured to one another to forma loop which extends through another loop secured to the sidewall memberof the holster and in which the single strap member is extended throughsaid loop securing another ends of strap member and another strap memberto said another loop.
 2. The gun securement assembly of a holster ofclaim 1 in which said strap member and another strap member areflexible.
 3. The gun securement assembly of a holster of claim 1 inwhich at least a portion of said single strap element is constructed ofresilient material.
 4. The gun securement assembly of a holster of claim1 in which said end of the strap element is releasably secured to saidsidewall by a pair of clusters of mating hook and loop fasteners inwhich one of said pair is attached to said end and the other of saidpair is attached to an outer portion of said sidewall.
 5. The gunsecurement assembly of a holster of claim 4 in which one of said pair ofclusters attached to said outer portion of said sidewall extends awayfrom the opening of said holster.
 6. The gun securement assembly of aholster of claim 1 in which said sidewall is composed of ballisticresistant material.
 7. The gun securement assembly of a holster of claim1 in which said sidewall is flexible.
 8. The gun securement assembly ofa holster of claim 1 includes a thumb release member secured to saidsidewall and disposed over said opening of said holster.
 9. The gunsecurement assembly of a holster of claim 8 in which the thumb releasemember includes two tab members in which each tab member is secured tosaid sidewall of said holster to position each tab member at opposingsides of the opening of said holster.
 10. The gun securement assembly ofa holster of claim 9 includes the means for releasably securing each tabmember to said sidewall of said holster.
 11. The gun securement assemblyof a holster of claim 9 including a means for releasably securing thetwo tab members to each other at a position over said opening of saidholster.
 12. The gun securement assembly of a holster of claim 11 inwhich the releasable securing means includes a pair of mating snapmembers one each secured to each of the two tab members.
 13. The gunsecurement assembly of a holster of claim 9 in which at least one tabmember is secured to said sidewall of said holster by a first loopmember secured to said sidewall, in which a portion of said at least onetab member extends through said first loop member and releasably securesitself to said first loop member with a pair of clusters of mating hookand loop fasteners in which one of said pair is attached to said portionof the at least one tab member and the other of said pair is attached toanother portion of said at least one tab member to releasably engage toone another to secure about said first loop member.
 14. The gunsecurement assembly of a holster of claim 13 in which said one of saidpair of clusters of mating hook and loop fasteners extends along anotherportion away from said portion.
 15. The gun securement assembly of aholster of claim 13 in which the first loop member is secured to saidsidewall adjacent to said opening of said holster.
 16. The gunsecurement assembly of a holster of claim 15 includes at least two firstloop members each secured in a different position on said sidewall alongthe periphery of said opening.
 17. A method for securing a gun within aholster in which the holster has a sidewall member in a configuration todefine a receptacle to hold a gun and defines an opening in which a buttand hammer portion of the gun is accessible, comprising the stepsof:disposing a strap member and another strap member, each having oneend and another end, over said opening of said holster for positioningsaid hammer portion between at least a portion of said strap member andat least a portion of said another strap member; and securing the strapmember and another strap member to the sidewall of the holster whichincludes a single strap member having a first end secured to the one endof each the strap member and another strap member and in which a secondend of the single strap member is releasably secured to the sidewallmember, and in which the another ends of the strap member and anotherstrap member are secured to one another to form a loop which extendsthrough another loop secured to the sidewall member of the holster andin which the single strap member is extended through said loop securinganother ends of strap member and another strap member to said anotherloop.
 18. The method of securing a gun in a holster of claim 17 in whichthe steps of securing includes releasably securing the strap member andanother strap member to the sidewall of the holster.